Guessing game device



Sept. 27, 1966 R, K ACHEN GUESSING GAME DEVICE Filed July 5, 1964 IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent Oli 3,275,323 Patented Sept. 27, 1966 ice 3,275,323 GUESSING GAME DEVICE Robert K. Achen, 6531 Greenbush Ave., Van Nuys, Calif. Filed July 3, 1964, Ser. No. 380,162 6 Claims, (Cl. 273-120) This invention relates to a game device and more particularly t-o a game device which utilizes concealed objects which are to be identitied by the active p-layer prior to display of the objects to all the players.

yIn particular, the objects of the present invention which lare to be determined by guess are preferably marbles of different colors, although the objects can be other objects which can 'be distinguished from one another by number, letters, or other design-ations. The marbles of each player are placed in a hidden Ireceptacle which is out of sight of all the other players and the marble se- `lected by each player to be the subject of guess by the active player is placed at the entrance to a passageway. After the active player has guessed the nature of the olbject in the passageway of any player, the passageway can be cleared to let the object roll by gravity into a center display location `for all players, including the active player, to see.

The rules of the game can take various forms and in one particular game, it is the object of each of the players to `obtain 'all of the objects of the other players by eventually guessing the designation of all the marbles 'which have been selected by all the other players. Variations in the rules can provide that particular objects have different values or different meanings so that the rules of the game can be varied from the basic objective that one playe-r ends up with all the objects of the other players. It is obvious that considerable ski-ll and memory is required by the players in order to remember rwhich objects have been taken `from which players, thereby reducing the number of possible objects selected by any player.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a game device in which the active player is required .to guess at the nature of Iobjects selected by each of the other players and each object is revealed to all the players after a guess has been made.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game device in which a marble can be selected by a player from a plurality of concealed marbles having various designations thereon and the selected marble can be inserted into a hidden passageway prior to the active player guessing the designation of the selected marble; the selected marble being released yafter the guess by the active player, to move by gravity itno a central location for observation lby all of the players.

A rfurther object of the present invention is to provide a game device in which the memory ability of a plurality of players is tested and the winner is the one who is able to eventually designate each concealed object that is selected by each of the other players during the game.

These and other objects of the invention not specically `set forth above will become readily apparent from the accompanying description and drawings in which:

*FIGURE l is a top plan view of the game device in the present invention showing the center well which serves to disp-lay released objects to all of the players;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view taken along lline 2-2 of FIGURE 1 showing the object compartment for one of the players'and the movable pin for blocking a concealed passage;

'FIGURE 3 is a vertical section along line 3 3 of FIGURE 1 showing the blocking pins and the concealed passages.

Referring to the embodiment of the invention chosen for illustration, the game device 10 can be constructed of a block 11 of suitable material, such as plastic or wood, in which the various concealed compartments and passages can be molded or otherwise milled out. The block k111 has four sides 12, 1x3, 14, and 1'5, Aand each side has a concealed compartment 16, therein for storing the objects, such as marbles, which each player commences with. Each compartment 16 Ihas a lip 17 extending the length thereof in order to retain the marbles 18 which a-re stored in the compartments. As illustrated in FIG- URE 1, a player is associated with each compartment 16 and can commence with three or more marbles at the start of the game.

Each compartment 16 is connected by a concealed passa-ge 20 to a central `well 23 where a marble can be observed fby all the players. Inlet 21 of each passage 20 is located at the upper side of the associated compartment and the passage slants downwardly to connect with open well I23 through outlet 22. A blocking pin 25 normally extends through a sleeve 26 in block 11 and across each passage 20 at a location spaced somewhat from inlet 21 in order to block the movement of `a marble through the passage. As illustrated in FIG- URE 3, before a marble 18 engages pin 25, it can be inserted far enough into inlet 21 so that it will be retained in concealed position within the passage and prohibit changing from original selection.

A knob 27 is connected to the upper end of each pin 25 arid when the knob is free, it is positioned by gravity against the top surface of 28 lof the block 11 with lower end 29 of the pin 25 in passage blocking position. An enlarged step 30 is connected to the lower end 29 and prevents the pin 25 from being completely removed from the block. When the pin is pulled upwardly by gripping the knob 27, the stop 30 will move into ia cutaway portion 31 in `order to clear the passage 20 and permit the marble 18 to be moved by gravity down the passage 20 into the well 23. The top surface 28 `of the block 11 is cutaway to form a bowl-shaped surface 32 which terminates at the circular upper edge of the Well 23. By cutting away the top surface, it is possiblel for all of the players to observe -a marble 18 as it enters the well 23 to determine whether or not a correct guess has been made by the active player.

As an example of the games that can be played with the game device, a player is stationed at each of the sides 12, 13, 14, and 15 and the players will be designated in accordance with the side in which they play. Each of the compartments 16 can initially contain live marbles 18 and the compartments are large enough to retain more marbles since the winning player will collect all the marbles of the other players at the end of the game. The number of marbles which each player has at the start of the game can, of course, be varied. In order to determine which of the players will become the lirst active player, Idice can be thrown by all the players land the high number roller will be the irst active player. Assuming that player 12 wins the throw of the dice, all of the other players will place a marble at the inlet 21 of their passage 20 and the marble will be held in the concealed position by the pin 25. Of course, yall of the other marbles of each player are also concealed from the active player and all other players since they are in a concealed compartment 16. The marbles of each of the players will be usually of five different colors although they can be identitied by different numbers, letters, or -other marks thereon.

After each of the other players 13, 14, 15 have placed a marble at the inlet 21 of passage 20, the active player 12 will guess the designation on the selected marble of each player, starting with the player to the left and going clockwise. After the color marble placed by player 15 is guessed, the player 15 will raise his pin 25 by raising knob 27 and the selected marble 18 will move down- -for all t-o observe.

Wardly into the well so lall the players can determine whether the guess of a player 12 was right or wrong. If the guess of player 12 was correct, he will take the marble in the well and place it in his compartment 16. If his guess Was wrong, the player 15 will remove the marble from the well and retain the marble. The active player 12 will then move on to the player 14 in an attempt t0 guess the designation on the marble he has placed in the inlet of passage 20. After the guess, the player 14 will raise the pin 25 and his marble will roll into the Well 23 Here again, the marble is either retained by the player 14 or goes over to the active player 12. Finally, the m'arble selected by the player 13 would be guessed by the active player 12 and the marble then disclosed to determine whether it is retained by the player 13 or goes to the active player 12.

In Ione form of the game, if the active player 12 guesses the colors of all the marbles of the other three players, he is entitled to play around again in the same way. However, if he misses any one of the marble designations, the player 15 to the left of the player 12 then becomes the active player and player 15 goes through the same guessing procedure as described above for the player 12. It is obvious that as the game progresses, considerable memory skill is required to determine which marbles which players have so that the guesses made can be those having the greatest probability of success. The game will terminate when one of the players gets all the marbles from all the other players and each player is eliminated when he has no more marbles. Modifications of the rules are possible by having va-rious marbles have particular purposes Ior particular values so that when a particular marble is guessed it means that the active player can have a special privilege, such as another round of calls or the rig-ht to demand additional marbles from any one of the players.

It is understood that the game device can be fabricated from any suitable material, such as molded, light plastic land that the game device can have fewer or more than four sides so that the number of players can vary. It is necessary however that the number of players be limited to those which will not be able to observe the marble compartments of the other players. Also, other types of latches, rather than pins 25, can be utilized to -retain and then release each marble 18 after a guess las to idesignation has been made. While the game has been explained withthe use of marbles, other suitable objects with other types of designations can be used. Various other modifications are contemplated by lthose skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter dened by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A game device comprising:

a body having a plurality of compartments for containing the objects to be used in the game;

each compartment being assigned to an individual player and the objects therein concealed from all the other players;

a common display surface associated with said body and observable by all the players;

yand concealed passage means associated with each compartment for receiving an object selected by a player from the compartment while still concealing the object from all the other players; and

means for selectively releasing said selected object while still concealed for passage through said passage means onto said common display surface.

2. A game device defined in Claim 1 wherein said releasing means comprises asubstantially vertical pin spaced from the inlet of said passage means and selectively movable transversely of said passage means, said pin being held lin blocking position across said passage means by the force of gravity in order to retain said selected object at said inlet, the upper end of said pin projecting beyond said passage means for gripping by said player in order to move said pin and release the object for travel along said passage means.

3. A game device as defined in claim 2 wherein:

lsaid body comprises a rectangular block of material,

one of said compartments being cut in each of the four sides of the block;

said common display area comprising a Well located in said block and connected to each of said compartments by one of said passages means; and

a bowl shaped surface cut in the top of said block and terminating at the upper edge of said well to permit all the players to observe the object released to said Well.

4. A game device comprising:

a separate object compartment for each player;

a plurality of objects located in each compartment -With each object having a different designation; each of said compartments being concealed from the other players associated with the other compartments;

a common display area observable by all the players;

a concealed passage connecting each compartment with said common display area; and

blocking means located at the inlet of each of said passages to retain a secretly selected object at the inlet of said passage and operable by each player to release the retained object for movement through said passage into the common display area.

5. A game device as dened in claim 4 wherein said blocking means comprising a pin normally held by gravity transversely of said passage and having an end grippable byeach player to move said pin.

6. A game device comprising:

means for retaining a plurality of objects for each player concealed from all the other players, the objects of each player having different designations; a concealed means for receiving a secretly selected object from each of the players other than the active player and holding said selected objects in non-retrievable condition so that the act-ive player can guess the designation of the object selected by each of the players; means for releasing the selected object of each player while still concealed after a guess as to its designation has been made -by the active player; and

means for receiving said released object in order to d-isplay the designation of the object to all of the players;

the objects the designation of which has been cor- Arectly guessed by the active player being retained 'by the active player.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 428,985 5/1890 Wilkening 273-120 550,803 12/1895 Post 273-120 856,118 6/1907 Wallace 273-120 1,112,243 9/1914 Weitzel 273-120 1,296,129 3/1919 Siegel 273-120 1,385,517 7/ 1921 Blackburn 273-120 5,033,570 5/1962 Mathes et al 273-120 X RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

A. W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GAME DEVICE COMPRISING: A BODY HAVING A PLURALITY OF COMPARTMENTS FOR CONTAINING THE OBJECTS TO BE USED IN THE GAME; EACH COMPARTMENT BEING ASSIGNED TO AN INDIVIDUAL PLAYER AND THE OBJECTS THEREIN CONCEALED FROM ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS; A COMMON DISPLAY SURFACE ASSOCIATED WITH SAID BODY AND OBSERVABLE BY ALL THE PLAYERS; AND CONCEALED PASSAGE MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH COMPARTMENT FOR RECEIVING AN OBJECT SELECTED BY A PLAYER FROM THE COMPARTMENT WHILE STILL CONCEALING THE OBJECT FROM ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS; AND MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY RELEASING SAID SELECTED OBJECT WHILE STILL CONCEALED FOR PASSAGE THROUGH SAID PASSAGE MEANS ONTO SAID COMMON DISPLAY SURFACE. 